


10 Links AU Part 1: Rise of Ganondorf

by NaturalDisaster_Goddess



Series: 10 Links AU [1]
Category: 10 Links AU, Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, i dunno yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaturalDisaster_Goddess/pseuds/NaturalDisaster_Goddess
Summary: Long after the Hero of the Wild; the cycle begins anew.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are folks, chapter one of the 10 Links AU. Updates will be sporadic for planning reasons, but I'm gonna try to be regular.

It starts with a roar.

Endless. Ageless. And angry.

Many are there to see, but none are there to stop the only Gerudo male from succumbing to the hateful malice that plagues him. They merely watch as he falls; as the surging pitch laced in sickening pink burns away the man who once stood the leader of his kind.

It is with this roar that a rebuilt castle is once again; demolished, that the shrine that saved the world’s only hope is toppled, that the burning tar that once claimed the lives of the ages greatest warriors seeps deep into the ground turning a thriving land into a wasteland of lethality.

I watch this happen with my own eyes, dear reader. Words written down by the wispy hand of the half-Sheikah ghost I now exist as.

The ancient ghost who watches these events beside an even more ancient goddess.

“Does it bother you?” I ask.

“Of course not. Why should it?” Hylia replies.

I know that she’s lying. I always know.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Shit. _

_ Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. _

_ Jovinto. _

_ Had to be a Jovinto _ .

And right when they’d just broken their best sword a few days ago too.

Link chanced a brief look over their shoulder; maybe the beast had given up.

The glowing orbs of yellow and the rage filled bellow not twenty meters behind them said otherwise.

Link groaned and slid under the massive venus fly trap that had been ready to bite their head off with a practiced ease. They idly wondered if the plant would try to do the same with the Jovinto; they almost pitied the plant if it did.

Almost.

When the plant  _ did _ try to snap a bite of the Jovinto, and the action was followed by the sound of tearing roots, it wasn’t even almost.

_ Could’ve at least slowed it down _ they thought.

“Ah, another one.”

Link yelped as they were forced to skid to stop to avoid running headlong into the person who’d suddenly decided that right in front of them was a great place to stand.

They only barely succeeded at not hitting the person, but when they opened their mouth Link almost wished they hadn’t stopped.

“Careful there! You’ll run into someone!” they spoke.

Link sighed, “Listen. Big monster behind me. You should run.”

“But I have important things to tell you.” they replied.

“I’m sure whatever you have to say is very interesting and very important, but I’m kind of busy running for my life.”

“Oh you’ll want to listen to me if you ever want to know the truth, Hero of Farore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To listen go to next chapter.  
To ignore go to chapter 4


	3. Chapter 3

“What do you mean ‘Hero of Farore’?”  
“Oh, that got your attention now didn’t it?” the person replied, “The world is dying.”  
Link could only stare at them as the pair stood in a malice infested forest with a bloodthirsty Jovinto getting closer every second, “.............You don’t say.”  
“Hush and let me finish! The goddesses need your help, Link”  
“Why would goddesses need my help?”  
“I’m getting to that. They need your help because of what’s happened to the world. Malice everywhere, infecting their very domains. They’ve been corrupted, and the longer they stay like that the more the malice will spread as they lose their grip on their domains until there’s simply nothing left.”  
Their face was cold and serious, but Link couldn’t maintain the same level of sobriety.  
“What does that even mean? What am I supposed to do about it? I didn’t even know that was happening until two seconds ago!” they said helplessly.  
The person’s face soured, “Well I don’t know how to fix it; I’m just supposed to tell you about it.”  
“That doesn’t make any sense! How am I supposed to fix a problem that I know nothing about?”  
“Presumably by asking someone who does know.”  
Link would’ve asked more but a roar ruined the chance.  
“Oh,” the person said, as though they’d only just noticed the monster, “I suppose that’s my cue to leave. Those are very dangerous creatures.”  
Then they simply turned around and walked away; leaving Link to deal with the monster.  
A monster that was suddenly very close and swinging a massive clawed paw at them.  
Link yelped as they leapt out of the way; fully prepared to resume their merry chase with a significantly lower chance of survival.  
But it seemed that would be unnecessary when an ivy wrapped hand latched onto their arm and pulled them into a tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to chapter 5


	4. Chapter 4

“I’m sure whatever you have to say is really important but I really don’t have the time right now!”  
The person huffed, “Well fine if you don’t want to listen to me then don’t.”  
They huffed again and walked off, grumbling to themself.  
Link couldn’t find the mental capacity to wonder, or care, if the person might be willing to explain later when a loud roar echoed through the forest. The sound spurred them back into action and they ran off.  
“Psst,” someone hissed.  
Link didn’t have time to respond before whoever had hissed at them curled a hand around their arm and pulled them out of the path of the Jovinto….  
And directly into a tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to chapter 11.


	5. Chapter 5

Being inside a tree was not quite what Link would’ve expected, had they ever stopped to consider the idea of being inside of a tree.  
It was cold, and cramped, and made breathing a bit difficult; all around, not a pleasant experience.  
Link found they didn’t mind so much when they heard the muffled steps of the Jovinto thunder past without so much as pausing beside the tree. After the noise had faded they were pushed back out of the tree and immediately proceeded to cough in what felt like an attempt at hacking out a lung.  
“Sorry,” a voice said behind them, “I’d have warned you, but I didn’t really think it was the time.”  
Link waved the apology off as they struggled to regain control of their breathing. When their lungs stopped trying to force their way out of their throat Link looked up at the owner of the voice.  
The grass green flames and translucent figure immediately revealed one piece of information; ghost. The ghost was dressed mostly in dull greens and browns, the brightest colors being the ivy vines wrapped around her arms. She had brown eyes and hair and the slight tinge of green to her skin could’ve been natural, or it could’ve been the glow of the flames.  
She was looking down at them from her spot floating just above the ground looking concerned, and that was when Link realized they’d been staring for what might have been considered a rude amount of time.  
“Um… Thanks.” that should do, thanking the person who saved your life usually never went amiss.  
“No problem,” the ghost replied, “What are you doing out here anyway? It’s pretty dangerous to go out alone. And who was that other person you were talking to?”  
Link groaned, “I don’t know; they never told me their name. All they said was that the world is dying and I need to save the goddesses to fix it.”  
The ghost stared for a second, “That’s it? Not even an instruction manual?”  
“Right!” Link exclaimed, “They could’ve at least pointed me towards the person with the instruction manual!”  
“You wouldn’t happen to know someone with an instruction manual would you?”  
They sighed, “No. There’s exactly one person I know who’d be most likely to have a cosmic instruction manual, and I don’t know where she is right now.”  
The ghost blinked, then grinned, “Well, better get looking then.”  
“Huh?”  
“Come on,” she said cheerfully, “adventure! Let’s go!”  
“Wait I thought nature spirits couldn’t go far from their plants.”  
“Oh that,” she waved dismissively, “I’m a general nature spirit, as long as there’s a plant around I’m good.”  
Link nodded, “You actually want to go with me?”  
“Well apparently someone needs to be around to pull you into trees whenever you don’t have any decent weapons.”  
Link sighed acceptingly and scooped a small stalk of lavender off the ground, “All right then new friend; into the unknown.”  
Seeing as the pair didn’t really know where they were going Link picked a random direction and walked off with the ghost trailing their steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

They’d walked for quite a while before Link realized they hadn’t asked the ghost’s name, and that now it was going to be awkward.  
Of course it would only get more awkward if they waited, so Link swallowed a groan and asked, “So, what’s your name?”  
“Acisha. Yours?”  
“Link.”  
Acisha nodded and with that done the pair continued on in a semi comfortable silence.  
A silence that was broken only by the sharp gasps that came from both when they walked into a small pond side clearing.  
The clearing, though pretty, wasn’t the cause for their alarm.  
What their eyes had actually locked on was the black and white cat curled up on a sunny rock snoozing peacefully.  
It was the long black mane tracing the cat’s spine that had Link reaching for a dagger.  
“I would greatly appriciate it if you didn’t murder my cat.”  
Link and Acisha jumped before scrambling to turn to face the voice.  
For the second time that day Link found themself looking up at a ghost. This one was curled into the branches of a tree surrounded by teal-blue flames that burned significantly brighter than the ones around Acisha and wearing a long ragged black coat with a tail that couldn’t seem to decide if it was an ocean or a night sky. The ghost hadn’t even glanced up from the book cradled in their lap, continuing to write. The ghost had the trademark white hair of the Sheikah, but lacked their red eyes, having bright green instead.  
“...... That’s yours?” Link asked incredulously. They’d heard that shapeshifters could be tamed, but they’d never met someone with the gal to actually try.  
Finally the ghost looked away from the book, her quill halting its movement as she looked down at them, “Yes, and you must be this era’s new hero.”  
“Does everyone know that except me?” Link wondered.  
“I didn’t” Acisha supplied.  
“You’re hardly the first of the heroes to be the last to know.” the other ghost stated.  
“Endlessly reassuring.” Link drawled.  
Acisha leaned closer to Link, “Do you think this is the person with the instruction manual?”  
“Maybe,” Link replied, then they jumped to latch onto a branch near the one the ghost sat on, “hey, do you know what we’re supposed to do?”  
The ghost had already resumed writing, “I know that you’re supposed to figure that out for yourself.”  
“But couldn’t I do better if I had someone tell me the best way to do it?” Link retorted.  
The ghost hopped to the ground, “You’ve already been told what you need to do.”  
“How do you know that?” Acisha wondered, drifting closer to the other ghost.  
“It’s my job to know things.”  
“Then you do know what I need to do.” Link interjected as they darted to stand beside Acisha.  
The ghost rolled their eyes, “There’s infinitely many ways for you to do this. You’ll figure it out; you always do.”  
The ghost had turned and began to walk towards where her “cat” was sleeping when Link spoke, “Apparently not.”  
The ghost looked back at them curiously.  
“I mean, we’re still here,” Link continued, “my knowledge of the old legends isn’t the best, but isn’t this just a repeating cycle?”  
She nodded slowly.  
“Then I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t figure it out and I never did.” Link stated.  
The ghost looked at them curiously, but said nothing.  
“After all, if I ever really knew what to do then why is this still happening? Wouldn’t this have stopped?  
It’s not really a solution if the problem just comes back…. Wouldn’t it be better to end it...for good?”  
She listened to them speak with something akin to approval, and something darker and deeper beneath the surface.  
“If you want to end this you need to save the person that never gets saved.” they finally spoke.  
“Huh?” Link wondered before the ghost’s hand was darting out to slam into their forehead.  
Link was knocked back; their vision swimming.  
They distantly heard Acisha’s voice cry, “Hey! What the hell?!”  
Any other words were swept away by a rushing tide of fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to next chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing they saw was light.

Bright, blinding sunlight quickly followed by the baking heat of the desert.

Their hearing soon joined their list of working senses with the sound of a baby crying.

They whirled around. Or rather they tried to.

Their body didn’t seem to want to listen to them; oddly detached and floaty. Instead of the quick twirl they’d moved for they got a slow horizontal spin.

Despite the slowness they were still rewarded with a view of what they’d wanted to see.

There was a small crowd of Gerudo women gathered around a bed with another woman lying atop it with a baby clutched in her arms. The women bounced in place excitedly, and the easy speed of their movements left Link feeling like the world had suddenly become an ocean and they were the only one that wasn’t a fish.

The baby’s crying was overshadowed by the women’s excited jitters of , “A boy! It’s a boy!”

They were at the time of the birth of the only Gerudo male in the last hundred years; the birth of the man who would one day be the cause of hundreds of deaths and the conquering of a proudly rebuilt nation.

Despite this knowledge Link was filled with a feeling of excitement and euphoria that  _ definitely _ wasn’t theirs.

The bright sun disappeared; the sky turned to the burnt orange of a sunset lit by a massive bonfire.

It was a party. Right in the middle of Gerudo Town women danced and cheered around the massive fire together passing around food and drink, several of their number already passed out.

Again, Link felt joy that didn’t belong to them.

Ganondorf, the child that would destroy the world, grew up surrounded by love and pride.

Link watched him grow; the pride of an entire town flooding over them. Link watched him rule; filled with the contentment of a people well cared for by their king.

And finally, Link watched him fall.

The proud King of the Gerudo became harsh as he aged; always flickering between the kind, benevolent king and the tyrant wavering on the edge of madness.

Link watched him fight, long and hard, against the corrosive hatred that tried to consume him ...but, something had to give.

Link felt the very moment that Ganondorf lost; felt it in the fear, and anger, and guilt, and _ pain _ that washed over them, curling them into a ball fighting off tears, as Ganondorf fell with massive clouds of malice twisting and tearing around him while he  _ screamed _ .

Link almost screamed with him, the painful fire burning in their heart forcing tears past their eyelids.

It was acid; burning away at their souls until nothing remained of what once was.

It was hatred; ripping and clawing at their hearts until that was the only emotion left.

It was madness; tugging at their minds until dreams were reality.

It was the end of the world.

Link wished that was it.

But it went on.

Thousands of years of struggle between the King and the Demon.

Thousands of years of towns hoping and praying for their king to win his never ending battle.

Thousands of years of families waiting to see if they would lose their son.

It was a legacy of pain and bloodshed. A legacy that went forgotten.

A king’s struggle torn from history by the terror his loss wrought. Left out of the books and stories and songs by the victims of his curse.

Stories told by the victims and victors of his burden; stories that forgot who the first victim had been ...

Link woke up crying.

At some point they had curled into the ground; fingers digging into the dirt.

Acisha was crouched above them; torn between making sure they were ok and yelling at the other ghost.

Said ghost was staring at them with far too much knowing.

“What was that…?” Link croaked.

“The stories that never got recorded, forgotten by everyone,” she replied, “everyone except me.”

There was a brief period of silence then the ghost sighed and pulled their glasses off, revealing the sunken dark circles under her eyes that made them look vaguely like a racoon. Odd, ghosts didn’t need sleep, and they rarely expended enough energy for it to physically manifest.

The ghost squinted into the distance, then pointed toward the far end of the clearing, “You’ll find Zelda that way, might want to hurry.”

Link pulled themself off the ground as the ghost walked over to the cat still sleeping peacefully on his rock. She gently lifted the shapeshifter off the rock, cradling it to their chest just like you would a house cat as it snuggled into her arms.

“..... What’s your name?” Acisha asked quietly.

“It’s Mist.” they replied, idly stroking the cat she turned back to them, and Link wondered distantly if the dark circles had somehow become a permanent feature while she was alive.

“You want to save the world?” they asked.

Link nodded gravely.

“Then save him first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to next chapter


	8. Chapter 8

Mist directed them towards where she said Zelda was, and by the time the pair turned around to say anything else to them, she’d disappeared. With nothing else to do they walked on.

And on…

And on…

And on…

Link had just started to wonder if they were going in circles when a shrill whistle note pierced the air.

A familiar, very important whistle note.

“Zelda…” they breathed, and then took off.

Acisha made a startled noise before gliding after them, “Hey! What’s the rush?!”

“That was Zelda’s note!” Link called back distractedly, leaping over a small shrub.

When a flashing streak of light became visible through the trees Link had already drawn a dagger and burst through the last layer of trees into the clearing.

The noise of their entrance wasn’t enough to distract the dueling teenagers circling each other with knives in hand. Of the two figures; Link recognized one.

Blood dripped from Zelda’s wrist; the shallow cut a testament of the distraction she’d afforded to blow her whistle.

Her opponent kept their eyes on her; almost as light on his feet as she was.

As soon as Link’s feet hit the grass their dagger was sailing through the air.

The unnamed assailant slipped out of its path, but their distraction cost them when Zelda’s glowing dagger slashed a cut into his outer wrist as she darted forward.

Zelda glides back out of his reach, snatching Link’s dagger out of the air as it passed, but she’d already won as her opponent’s knife fell from their hand.

He grunted in pain, eyes darting between Zelda and her two knives, Link and their easy grasp of another knife, and the glimmering arrow tip Acisha had aimed at their throat. 

With a dissatisfied frown, and a spark of resignation, he vanished.

“What’s with all the vanishing people today?” Acisha wondered, her bow engulfing in green fire and disintegrating.

“You alright?” Link asks Zelda, catching the knife she threw to them.

“Fine,” she replies, “thank you for the help.”

“No problem,” Acisha says, drifting closer, “who was that?”

“One of Ganondorf’s cronies, no doubt. They had the stink of his magic all over them.”

“Sending assassins after you? He’s getting bolder.” Link comments.

Zelda nods, “Which means you’ll need to watch your back as well. From the looks of it something big is about to happen.”

Link and Acisha share a glance, “About that…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to next chapter


	9. Chapter 9

It was hard for him to call the castle “home” even if it was technically where they lived. Where they lived or not; he regularly found himself looking for excuses not to go there.

This time though, Arden thought as he approached the dark castle housing Hyrule’s king, this time is was unavoidable… and, as a consequence, even worse.

None of the guards tried to stop him as he passed; no reason to question the king’s favorite lap dog.

The dread weighing him down didn’t show on their face; they made sure of it.

The guards outside the throne room pulled the heavy doors open for him, and he passed through silently as the doors banged shut behind him. They strode down the red carpet tracing the path towards the large iron throne placed in front of the rounded, stained glass window that Arden had never quite been able to decipher.

Ganondorf sat proudly atop his throne, dimly lit by the glowing rivers of lava tracing the edges of the room.

Arden kept his head down as they approached the throne, and kept it that way as he dropped to one knee at the foot of the dais.

“Well?” the king’s low gravelly voice spoke, “What happened? I don’t see the princess’s head anywhere.”

Arden swallowed around a chunk of ice that had formed in his throat, “She had unexpected help.”

“So you failed me.”

The chunk of ice in their throat turned into a cold slush crawling through their veins, and Arden had to bite back a shiver that wasn’t all from the cold, “I needed to come up with a better plan-”

“I brought you here ten years ago,” Ganondorf interrupted, “and you haven’t failed me in eight.

So tell me, what was different this time?”

“She had help… The hero and a ghost… They surprised me…”

Ganondorf rose from his throne, and Arden was suddenly very grateful for the carpet as he pressed his fist harder into it to hide the shaking. A large hand cupped the side of their head.

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The the pain started.

A deep, aching burn that filled his chest before snaking out into his limbs while a spider web of bloody cuts traced their way away from Ganondorf’s hand down across Arden’s face and neck.

It only got worse when the burn turned to biting cold. A spattering of light danced across his vision as they swallowed a cry of pain and some deep, unnamable terror.

They thought they might be passing out when the sparks of light turned into shapes; a friendly face with brown hair and brown eyes staring down at them from a tall tree, the same, _ familiar _ , face twisted in horror as screams echoed distantly through his mind, running, and then _ cold, cold and wet, and burning in his lungs. _

_ They couldn’t breathe. _

The pain stopped and Arden folded in on himself, coughing and gasping for air.

“Understand?”

_ What was that? _

“Yes Master.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

“So let me get this straight,” Zelda says, rubbing her temples as though to dissuade an oncoming headache, “the goddesses have been corrupted, we need to purify them, and to do that and end the reincarnation cycle we need to save Ganondorf; the literal embodiment of evil, the conqueror king who currently lives in the best defended castle in the world, and you got all of this information from a stranger in the woods and a tired ghost.”  
“Basically.” Link replies from their spot on the ground across from her.  
“Don’t forget the spooky visions from when the ghost hit them in the face.” Acisha adds.  
Zelda’s silent for a moment.  
“I’ve heard stranger,” she finally decides, “but if there’s an assassin after us; getting into the castle will be even harder than normal.”  
“Do we have any idea who they are?” Links asks.  
Acisha stares absently into the distance, “He seemed kind of familiar.”  
“What do you mean?” Zelda inquires.  
“I don’t know,” she replies, “just felt like I knew them from somewhere. I can’t quite place it.”  
There’s a moment of wondering silence before Link speaks up, “How do we even purify him if we do manage to get him from the castle?”  
“I’d have to resear-”  
“I know someone who can help.” Acisha cuts in.  
“Who?” Link asks, ignoring Zelda’s sour look at the nature spirit.  
“Well,” Acisha struggles with the words, unsure of how to phrase it, “I guess you could say she’s my mom.”


	11. Chapter 11

They would not recommend the tree to anyone. Wet, cold, stuffy, service was terrible, do not stay here.

The only good thing about the experience was the sound of hooves thundering harmlessly past. That and actually  _ leaving _ the tree.

The same hand that had pulled them into the tree pushes them out. Link collapses to the ground, and if they physically could have hugged it they would have. Instead they wind up laying spread-eagle in the grass gasping lung fulls of fresh air.

They’re perfectly content to stay there, but after a few times the bizarre feeling of a ghostly hand poking through their shoulder can’t be ignored.

When they look up at the green wreathed ghost she looks surprisingly relieved.

“Oh good, you’re alive,” she says, “thought you might have been some kind of weird breathing corpse or something.”

“Breathing corpse?” they ask.

The ghost shrugs, “Hey, you never know. So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?”

“Mostly running for my life.” Link replies.

The ghost nods and Link pulls themself back to their feet.

“Who was that you were talking to?”

“No idea, I was a bit too preoccupied with the monster to listen to them.”

“Think you should find them and ask?”

Link wilts, “I don’t know… They seemed pretty irritated with me…”

“Well it can’t hurt to try.” the ghost says, turning to look for the mysterious person, but they’re already long gone.

Link sighs, “I suppose I’ll have to live with the ignorance.”

The ghost shrugs, “Oh well, what’s your name?”

“Link. Yours?”

“Acisha,” she responds, “Where are you headed?”

“No idea.”

“Maybe you can find someone else who knows what that person was trying to tell you.”

“Maybe.” Link says.

Acisha grins, “An adventure, sounds fun.”

“Huh?” Link goes to ask but Acisha is already shoving a small plant into their hand and tugging them off in a random direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rest of this path has not been written.


End file.
